Judge of the Song Dynasty

The primary task of the emperor was always to maintain his rule.

Currently, the most challenging task facing Emperor Zhao Xu was the issue of state finances.

The problem was known as the Three Excesses: excess soldiers, excess officials, and excess expenditures. Moreover, the consequences of excess soldiers and excess officials resulted in excess expenditure, indicating that the Three Excesses were entirely reflected in the state’s finances.

In plain terms, it was about money.

Initially, Emperor Zhao Xu leaned more towards Wang Anshi’s suggestion. Since selling houses was so profitable, why shouldn’t the imperial court do it themselves? Compared to those unscrupulous merchants, the court had more restraint and could also restrain the rise in housing prices.

This logic had no problem at all.

However, in the end, Emperor Zhao Xu still accepted Zhang Fei’s words during the drinking session. The key remark he made was that officials could even levy extra taxes. If selling houses was profitable, what was stopping them from raising prices even higher?

In fact, renting out public houses was also profitable, just not as quickly, and there was also a hidden benefit.

After much contemplation, Emperor Zhao Xu believed that even if the government did it themselves, the profit brought by housing prices would not make up for the state’s financial deficit.

In this day and age, no matter how well the real estate game was played, the games would be limited, nowhere as profitable as in modern times. Ultimately, the country still needed reforms. So why not choose a steady approach in the housing policy?

After Wang Anshi received the order, he immediately released the news, indicating that the court would allocate land to build public rental houses.

Actually, these public rental houses had little to do with the people buying houses.

The people who lived in public rental houses could not afford to buy a house.

But this was a signal from the court.

It showed that the court was unwilling to see housing prices rise.

Lower and middle-ranking officials supported this very much.

They were the ones who were earnestly trying to buy a house.

On the other hand, the Ma family also stated that they only recognized contracts from the Chen family. As real estate intermediaries, the Chen family also pressured the sellers, preventing them from raising prices. If you raised prices, I would be scolded, and the buyers are people I can’t afford to offend. So you go find someone else to be your realtor. But other realtors couldn’t get loans for their clients.

This immediately fell into a vicious cycle.

The rate at which housing prices rose began to slow down again.

However, it was impossible for prices to fall.

After all, demand was there.

The previous housing prices were the true market price. Now with mortgages, there was some room for increase, but it was temporarily suppressed, only increasing slightly.

And the instigator, Zhang Fei, was now busy with getting a house of his own. But he was renting, not buying. Those which cheap to purchase were too low quality for him, while he couldn’t afford the expensive ones; in fact, he couldn’t even afford the down payment.

Today, Chen Maoqian’s nephew, Chen Decai, brought Zhang Fei and Li Si to Yinan Bridge west of the Cai River, in the outer city.

“The environment here is quite good!”

Zhang Fei stood in the courtyard looking around. There was a small courtyard in front, a small pavilion in the back, and a guest room on both sides. It seemed to be larger than the Xu family’s, so he couldn’t help but ask Chen Decai again, “Are you sure it’s only twelve strings a month here?”

The location was here was in the southwest corner of the outer city, although it was a bit of a distance from the Bian River Main Street, the main commercial area, it was still within the city. The entire Bianjing was valuable land!

Chen Decai nodded, “Yes. The monthly rent here is only twelve strings.”

Li Si hesitantly asked, “Has anyone died here?” Fresh chapters posted on N0v3l.Fiɾe.net

These days, he had been mingling with various wealthy people with Zhang Fei. Hundreds of strings were thrown around casually, so he wasn’t shocked by this dozen strings now. Moreover, ancient people were more superstitious, and generally, houses where deaths had occurred were very cheap.

“No! No!”

Chen Decai hurriedly replied, “How could I dare to rent out a haunted house to you two? You may not know, but here in the west of the Cai River, rents are relatively cheap. If it’s in the east of the river, the rent could increase by three or four times.”

Nowadays, he dared not show off in front of Zhang Fei, he was truly respectful!

Zhang Fei wondered, “Why is that?”

Chen Decai explained, “It’s because the martial schools are located in the west of the river, while the College of National Scions and the Imperial College are in the east. Therefore, rents there are very expensive, much more than on the Bian River Main Street.”

Although the Northern Song Dynasty emphasized the civil over the martial, it still retained the martial arts passed down from the Tang Dynasty.

“I see.”

Zhang Fei nodded.

It was well known that the Northern Song Dynasty emphasized the civil over the martial, which was directly reflected in the housing prices. Although they were both in the outer city, separated only by a river, the difference between the two sides was like heaven and earth.

Intellectuals and wealthy people lived in the east of the river, which was very prosperous. High-end brothels, taverns were all built there. Although the west of the river was also bustling with people, mostly they were just ordinary folks.

Of course, these ordinary folks could serve the wealthy people across the river and earn a living.

“This place will do.”

Zhang Fei chuckled.

He actually didn’t enjoy being with those intellectuals.

That day, both parties returned to the real estate agency and formally signed the lease contract. Although the rent was twelve strings, due to the high commission of the agency and the taxes payable to the court, the final amount reached fifteen strings.

Just renting a house required this much money.

With that, the Northern Song government was still quite poor. As far as feudal dynasties went, the deficit of the central finances of the Northern Song Dynasty was unprecedented and unparalleled.

But speaking of which, the Northern Song Dynasty had many aspects that were quite humane, not all negative. For example, the court stipulated that rent would only start counting five days after the lease was signed, in other words, giving you five days to move.

From these details, it could be seen that the Northern Song Dynasty was actually a highly commercialized society with relatively well-developed services.

Once everything was arranged, Zhang Fei asked Li Si to go clean the new home first, while he himself went to the Xu manor to bid farewell to Xu Zun.

“Are you in such a hurry to move out because of my daughter?” Xu Zun was indeed a bit reluctant to part with Zhang Fei. With Zhang Fei around, he could often discuss legal issues at home, and each time he talked with this fellow, he benefited greatly.

“Of course not.” Zhang Fei shook his head and said, “Actually, Lady Xu has been very kind to me, and I will continue to maintain a cooperative relationship with her. It’s just that I want to go out and make something of myself. Now that Li Si is following me, it’s even more inconvenient to stay here. At the same time, my business may also bring unnecessary trouble to you, Benefactor. After all, with rumors flying around, it might create suspicion.”

Xu Zun nodded slightly.

Since the emergence of mortgages, Zhang Fei’s cases were no longer going to be just small legal matters. If Zhang Fei continued to live in the Xu manor, everything he did would be subject to speculation as to whether Xu Zun was manipulating behind the scenes.

This would make both of them very uncomfortable.

They would have to take each other’s feelings into consideration in everything they did.

But they each had their own aspirations.

It really was time to part ways.

Xu Zun smiled, “It’s up to you to decide. I’ll visit you another day to congratulate you.”

Zhang Fei clasped his hands, “I will be waiting for Benefactor’s esteemed visit.”

Just then, Xu Zhiqian came into the hall. Xu Zun immediately said, “Qian’er, you came at the right time. Accompany Zhang Fei for me.”

Zhang Fei half-jokingly said, “Lady Xu will surely be happy to do so.”

Xu Zhiqian smiled and pursed her lips, “That’s exactly why I’m here. After you, Pen-in-Cap Zhang.”

Zhang Fei’s expression instantly darkened, “Can you change the way you address me?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because you dislike being called pen-in-cap very much.”

“You really hold grudges.”

“Hmph!”

Xu Zun watched the two bicker as they left the hall, shaking his head with a bitter smile. Even when Zhang San was going to move out of the manor, they couldn’t help but argue.

As they left the hall, Xu Zhiqian suddenly said, “You’ve offended so many people. When you’re out and about, you need to be careful.”

Zhang Fei glanced at her, “Why is it that when a perfectly fine sentence comes out of your mouth, it sounds like a curse?”

“I don’t have time to curse you.” Xu Zhiqian looked frustrated, feeling like her kindness was being taken for granted.

Zhang Fei hurriedly chuckled, “Today is supposed to be a joyous occasion for both of us, let’s not argue, okay?”

Xu Zhiqian scoffed, “Who said it’s a joyous occasion for me?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? You’ve finally kicked me out, and I finally escaped from your clutches.”

Xu Zhiqian surprisingly had no retort.

Suddenly, Zhang Fei said seriously, “Regardless, I’m very grateful for Lady Xu’s accommodation these days. As for the trouble I may have caused you, I sincerely apologize.”

Xu Zhiqian huffed lightly, “That more like it.”

Zhang Fei laughed heartily, then bowed, “Lady Xu, there’s no need to accompany futher. I’ll take my leave!”

“Hurry up and go!”

Zhang Fei mounted a rented horse and suddenly turned his head to look at Xu Zhiqian inside the house, “Lady Xu, you should know where I live, right? If anything happens, you can have Qingmei inform me.”

Xu Zhiqian turned and went back inside.

Did she have to be so cool?

Zhang Fei rolled his eyes and rode away.

He was very happy today. Whatever Xu Zhiqian said, he wouldn’t get angry.

At this moment, he felt like a carefree bird, soaring freely in the sky.

Thinking about it, moving house was also a joyous event. Since he wasn’t hosting a celebration, why not invite some singing girls over tonight for some fun? Maybe it was a bit hasty, making him seem a bit thirsty. But he actually was. These days at the Xu Mansion, it was all plain tea and rice, almost bland. Yeah, he’d have Li Si inquire later.

The more he thought about it, the more urgent he felt, urging the horse on.

After an hour, he arrived at his residence.

“Li Si! Li Si! Huh? Is he not home?”

Dismounting, Zhang Fei shouted three times at the door, seeing no response from inside, he pushed the door open and walked in.

“Mmm, mmm, mmm!”

As soon as he entered, he saw Li Si tied to a big tree in the courtyard, with a piece of white cloth stuffed in his mouth, his eyes bulging as he frantically shook his head at him.

“Li Si, what’s happened to you!” As soon as the words left his mouth, Zhang Fei felt something was wrong. Turning around to run, he didn’t expect a large burlap sack to descend from above.

Before he could react, he felt a heavy kick on his buttocks. He exclaimed, “Ow!” and fell straight to the ground, his head hitting first, instantly seeing stars.

Before he could recover, another kick landed on his stomach, causing his head and feet to rise at the same time, like a shrimp in a pan, almost making him throw up his breakfast.

With this combination of moves, Zhang Fei was completely powerless to resist.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Help! Help!”

Trapped in the sack, Zhang Fei covered his head with his hands, shouting loudly.

Suddenly, someone outside said, “It sounds like someone’s calling for help! Sounds like Zhang San’s voice.”

“Zhang San, don’t be afraid, Little Ma is here!”

Then someone whispered, “Not good! Someone’s coming!”

“Quick, run!”

Then a domineering voice said, “Bandit! Freeze!”